prefer

Verb

prefer (third-person singular simple present prefers, present participle preferring, simple past and past participle preferred)

1. (transitive) To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better.
   • I prefer tea to coffee.
   • I'd prefer it if you didn't do it.

   Synonyms:

   fain, favor, forechoose

   Antonyms:

   disprefer

2. (dated, transitive) To advance, promote (someone or something).
   • So ſhall you haue a ſhorter iourney to your deſires, by the meanes I ſhall then haue to preferre them. And the impediment moſt profitably remoued, without the which there were no expectation of our proſperitie.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
   • And the maiden pleaſed him, and ſhe obtained kindneſſe of him,[…], and hee preferred her and her maids, vnto the beſt place of the houſe of the women.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 2:9, column 2

   Synonyms:

   elevate, raise, uplift, advance, aggrandize, dignify, ennoble, exalt, honor, nobilitate

3. (transitive) To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges").
   • […], let him go,
     And preſently preferre his ſuite to Cæſar.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • At length the Maroons, who were delighted to have him with them, became diſ­con­tent­ed with his abſence, and for ſeveral years, during the ſeſſions of the Houſe of Aſſembly, preferred repeated complaints againſt him.1803, Dallas, Robert Charles (author), The History of the Maroons, volume 1, London: Longman and Rees, published 1803, →OCLC, Letter 5, page 137
4. (obsolete, transitive) To put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend (to).
   • one Master David Hume, who making some use of his purse, gave him Letters to his friends in Scotland to preferre him to King Iames.1630, John Smith, chapter 1, in The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith, London: Thomas Slater, page 2
   • Such were the arguments which my will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be current; and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented to accept,[…].1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst...